Washington – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemns reported atrocities committed against Muslims Rohingyas in Myanmar, and he says that officials – perhaps the country’s army – will be held responsible.
Tillerson says that the stories of the suffering of the rohingyas are “heartbreaking” – and that if these reports are true, then “someone will be taken into account”.
Tillerson – which is expected to visit South Asia next week – urges the government of Myanmar to improve humanitarian access to the population of Western Rakhine State.
Amnesty International accused Myanmar security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel rohingyas. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to the neighboring Bangladesh since the end of August.
“We really hold the military leaders responsible for what is happening,” Tillerson told the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington reflection group. “What is most important to us is that the world cannot be content to remain lazy and witness the atrocities that are reported in this area.”
He also called on Wednesday in the United States and India to extend strategic links. He criticized China pointed out, that he has accused of contesting the international standards necessary for global stability.
He said the world needed the United States and India to have a solid partnership. The two nations share security, free navigation, free and fighting and fighting terrorism in Indo-Pacific objectives, and serve as “oriental and Western beacons” for an international order based on the rules which is increasingly under pressure, he said.
India and China had benefited from this order, but Tillerson said that India had done so while respecting rules and standards, while China had “sometimes” compromised. To assert his point of view, he referred to the construction of the Chinese island and to vast territorial affirmations in the seas where Beijing has long-standing disputes with neighbors in Southeast Asia.
“The provocative actions of China in the Southern China Sea directly give the sea and to the international standards that the United States and India both represent,” said Tillerson.
He added that the United States is looking for constructive relations with China but “will not shrink” the challenges it poses when it “subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the disadvantages of the United States and our friends”.
American-Indian relations have generally prospered in the last decade, partly because of their common concerns concerning the rise of China. While President Donald Trump sought to deepen cooperation with China to respond to the nuclear threat of North Korea, he also sought a closer relationship with India, which shares the American worries of Islamic extremism.
“During this period of uncertainty and anxiety, India needs a reliable partner on the world scene. I want to indicate clearly: with our shared values and our vision of global stability, peace and prosperity, the United States is this partner, “said Tillerson.
Tillerson said the United States wanted to help improve the military capacity of India and also improve security cooperation between the main democracies in the region, which included Japan and Australia.
Tillerson said the United States and India were directing regional efforts on counter-terrorism. He called Pakistan of the Archrival of India “to take decisive measures against terrorist groups based in their own borders which threaten its own people and the wider region”.
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